According to recently released official statistics, China's petroleum import volume from Iran rose 25% in the first quarter of this year.

Statistics show that during this period, petroleum imports from Iran to China increased 74,000 barrels per day and reached 377,000 barrels per day. Therefore the gross volume went up 25%.

Experts pointed out that shift of Iran's petroleum export to China can not only reduce the dependence of Northeast Asian countries on crude oil exporter Iran, but also avoid the influence of China signing longer-term contracts with Iran's crude oil markets on oil price.

At the same time, owing to worries about Iran's political situation, Japan and South Korea's petroleum imports from Iran both saw drop of different margins. Japan's import volume declined 14% (97,000 barrels per day) and South Korea's imports went down 7% (16,000 barrels per day) from Jan. to Apr. this year.

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